A Friend in Need
by Wolfi-Chan
Summary: When Shun is exploring the forest behind he Grandfather's house, Shun runs right into trouble, leaving him badly injured. Will anyone find him in time? And if so, will it be as easy to get him help as they thought? *T for Ch 5*
1. Chapter 1

Ch 1: Finding Trouble

Shun Kazami raced through the trees, it had been a few months since the Bakugan left for the new and improved version of Vestoria. Shun had spent his time on sharpening his ninja skills. He was getting better every day, bit by bit. The animals below showed little to no attention for the boy, it was also possible that they didn't notice him. The ninja was heading to the mountains, jumping from tree to tree.

The twelve year old stopped short, there was nothing but bare rock. "_Lucky I saw that first,"_ Shun thought then jumped down from his perch. He was out in the open. He wasn't scared though, the forest that he had for a backyard was familiar. This was one of the places he hadn't seen yet, which seemed interesting enough.

The bare rock was part of the mountain, maybe the cliff of it. Curious, Shun decided to take a look. There was a good chance nobody but animals had come to this place since the grass was tall and roots, from vine healthy green to blackish brown dead, were everywhere. It seemed that no living thing actually stepped into here, not one blade of grass was crushed.

As Shun continued forward, Shun noticed the another part of the forest going down. He grinned for a second, that was the place he would continue.

Shun soon figured out why no other human ventured there, suddenly his foot got tangled in roots. Shun sighed then began freeing his foot when he heard snapping. The boy was silent, he heard a few snaps but it was hard to tell from the whistling grass; the sound was so quiet a dog would have to strain its hearing.

The sounds grew louder, the boy began fighting to get out of the knot of roots but he was too late. The roots gave way and Shun, plus the debris, fell through the well hidden crack in the Earth. The light was getting smaller and smaller. Shun looked up where the sky would be and saw something extraordinary; Ventus Skyress. "_No way!_" Shun thought.

A striking pain hit his head as he slammed into the hard rock, he rolled over from impact. The debris fell on top of him; he was buried right under various roots and rocks in a dark place. Shun struggled to get out but something was slowing him down, plus the weight on him. That when he noticed the feeling of warm liquid coming down the side of his face and another slipping into his loose collar of his jacket and tank top. It dripped onto the rock floor and Shun felt like the world was floating away, like he was loosing focus on everything. He collapsed under the weight, everything was darkening until it finally was too dark to see, even though it was about 2 in the afternoon. It _was_ like the world really was floating away from him. That's where Shun found himself, floating away from the world. What was happening? Was he dying? Shun wasn't exactly sure. As his thoughts slowed down the darkness finally took him.

* * *

><p>Shun: Please don't tell me I'm dying...<p>

Wolfi: We'll have to see. I've got chapters all picked out so there shouldn't be any run-ons.

Shun: Great...

Wolfi: REVIEW EVERYBODY WHO WANTS TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2: Finding Shun

"What do you mean he isn't here!" Andi, a violet haired girl cried out. Her brother stood by her in silence.

The twins that lived a couple blocks away were looking for Shun, so they came here to find him nowhere to be found. "He isn't here," his grandpa said with a short and strict tone in his voice, "He went training in the forest."

"How long ago?" asked Alan, bring straightforward. Shun's guardian answered strictly, this time with edge,

"An hour and a half. Now scat!" With that he closed the door on the twins. The two shrugged and walked down to the gate of the Kazami Estate.

"Strange, weren't we gonna hang out this afternoon a half-hour ago," Alan spoke, as if hinting something was wrong.

"That's true, he said so himself," Andi added.

Flashback

Shun leaped down from the trees, into the front lawn of the Rumara household. After waiting a few moments, he decided to whistle the short tone they created when they were younger. Soon the twins slipped out of the house and into the shadowed world cast down by the moon.

Alan gave a yawn, "Why did you come so early?"

Shun shrugged, "I thought your father taught you to be alert when you're sleeping."

"Whatever, why are you here anyway?" Alan told the other boy.

"I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out at two tomorrow," Shun spoke.

"Sure!" the tomboy, Andrea, spoke with a bit of bounce in her voice.

"Sure, just not two in the morning," Alan added then made his way back into the house. The two remaining kids watched him as he did so.

"Is he okay, he's usually not like that," Shun asked Alan's younger sister.

"He's just tired, he hasn't been sleeping well so my mom made some herbal tea that people with insomnia use to sleep easier," the girl replied, "Reason why I didn't get out of the house right away."

With a quick nod, the boy headed back into the trees, Andi shook her head with a smile and walked back into the house. Shun was acting as mysterious as always.

End of Flashback

"Maybe we should look for him, he's usually serious about meeting places," Andi told her brother.

"Guess so," Alan spoke then bolted into the forest with ease, her sister not far behind. At first they just spilt up and ran in the same direction. Soon Alan's chocolate brown eyes caught the view of a low branch. Using momentum and speed, he was able to actually run up the tree for a second then step of the weak branch, being fast enough to jump to the next before breaking on him.

Andi did the same thing, when she got high enough, she began hopping around from tree to tree. She kept glancing around when she landed on a strong branch, but kept looking straight when she jumped. When she saw her brother, she easily followed. They ended up in a clearing, the Rumara twins about three trees away from each other.

"You go right, I go left, twenty minutes, and we meet back here. Sound good?" Alan called.

"Yep!" Andi replied. Both dashed off, crossing paths once before running off into the distance.

Andi leaped from tree to tree looking all over for a black blur in the trees, soon almost running off to the cliff's edge. Looking over the lush green edge, she saw nothing by the beautiful landscape but no sign of any human out there. "_I guess I circle around,"_ Andi thought and followed through with the plan. Leaping swiftly like a branching bird on the edge of the cliff.

The girl soon saw a crack in the earth, right in the middle of a clearing nearby. Roots and moss were all over the edge, to Andi it looked like a large, oddly shaped, pitfall trap. Out by the edge was a natural stone bridge. Wanting to check it out, Andi jumped down and examined the area, it wasn't one she had seen before. After checking out the bridge, which she discovered half of it was unstable, she decided to look underneath it.

Rocks rolled away under her footsteps, making it hard to balance. Soon she was drug down with a couple rocks and ended up right below the stone structure, there was the smallest opening, just big enough to let a kid like Alan and herself through one at a time.

Seeing it might be too dangerous, she ran off to find Alan.

Alan watched as his littler twin raced into the clearing then asked, "I was about to search for you, what happened? Find anything? 'Cause I sure didn't..."

"There's a crack in the Earth, a HUGE one! With moss and stuff all around it. Anyway, by a cliff edge, there is a small opening that we could enter. Plus the crack looked like a pitfall trap, and moss and roots were hanging down from the edges," Andi reported.

Alan sighed then approached his sister, "Might as well check down there, If it's old enough, anyone could mistake it for solid ground."

The twins ran on the ground this time, Andi leading the way. Soon they followed the large pitfall and carefully chambered down to the base of the bridge.

Alan sighed as he looked into the darkened area before making a gentlemen-like hand gesture pointing toward the entrance, "Ladies first."

Andi rolled her eyes with a smile on her face. She gave him a small bonk on his head, "_Tomboys _first." The girl turned sideways, it was smaller then her shoulder length, but was pretty roomy, even pretty comfortable to get through. As she sidestepped through, she could hear the rocks tumble and crack above her. "_Please don't fall on me, please don't!"_ she thought. Her wish came true, she was on the other side without any rocks crushing her. Her brother came through fairly easily and safely as well.

The bottom of the rift was pretty big, about two meters wide, and seemed to go on forever; in fact Andi didn't even know how far it went. The place was quite dark, mostly likely for the ridged cliff-like sides, the bridge was too steep to climb and the height from the bottom to top must've been about two,maybe three or four stories.

"Better get going, Mom will kill us if we go missing for too long, plus if Shun's down here, who knows how bad his condition is," Alan told his little sister before rushing off.

"Right!" Andi replied with the her voice bouncing off the walls a few times, breaking through the options of what happened to her friend, before rushing off after him.

The run was easy, like running on wet concrete. After a fairly short sprint, the two found a pile of broken roots and other debris. The smell of cut grass and a couple other herbal smells drifted upwards, then the smell of fresh blood, which cut its way through the other aromas. Alan walked around only saying, "I feel sorry for that poor thing, falling down from up there with that much stuff on top of it."

Andi gulped before slowly following, then spotted something in the pile, and froze and almost screamed out her brother's name, "ALAN!"

Alan whirled around and rushed back, "What is it!" Usually Andi didn't yell at the top of her lungs because of a little bit of blood or gore, something would have to startle her badly in order to get her that shocked. She just stood there, frozen stiff.

"L-look..." she spoke with a shaky voice as she lifted her trembling hand, pointing at something. That's when Alan saw it too, he was also shocked and a little ashamed of just moving on.

Under all that rubble was purple fabric.

"Oh, frick!" Alan shouted, with anxiousness in his voice, as he dropped to his knees and threw roots, moss, grass, and rocks off the pile. Andi also dropped down and helped destroy the pile.

Each time they ripped opened a layer of rubble, the more Andi seemed to be right; that is until the fourth layer. By the fourth layer of debris, they saw Shun's messy black hair and his face covered in dust. Despite it was Shun after all, they kept throwing away debris that had pinned their friend down until he was unconscious until they could see his upper-body.

Finally Andi pulled him out of the rubble and drew in him into a hug, he seemed okay, except for a couple bad cuts and bruises; one thing that was good was that he was still breathing, still alive. Then she felt warm and sticky liquid, drip onto her shirt and seep into the fabric. She lifted his head to feel the dried blood and a large cut in the side of his head. "Oh no..." Andi spoke, her voice full of fear. She ripped off a bit of her shirt and shouted at Alan, "He's got a cut on his head! I really need you to press on his wound!"

Alan easily came to her aid. Applying direct pressure to the wound until it finally stopped bleeding. He ripped off a piece of his shirt, much larger and tied it around Shun's head.

"Do you know how bad?" Alan asked. Andi shrugged, "I don't think he has a spinal injury, just loss of blood or... he also might be going into shock. The pale and cool, clammy skin. Rapid and shallow breathing.."

"He's been under debris, Andi! That hast to be a coincidence!" Alan shouted, a bit nervous.

"I.. I think... Okay! I don't know! I'm just the daughter of a doctor, and so are you!" Andi replied, nervous as well.

Alan took in a deep breath then replied with a calmer voice, "Doesn't matter. He's alive and needs medical attention asap, we can't provide that, especially down here. Mom told us that rule number 1 was to stay calm, no matter the condition."

Andi nodded, "You'll carry him?"

Alan nodded, "I can do that."

After getting Shun onto Alan's back, into a piggy-back position, the Andi ran with Alan walked. Both were thinking the same thing, "_Please let Shun be alright...that we won't be too late..."_

* * *

><p>Andi: Awesome, we're in the story!<p>

Wolfi:Yep! Otherwise, the characters I had to choose from wouldn't work out with the plot.

Alan: Great...

Shun: So I may not die? Will I only be some kind of prop the whole time!

Wolfi: Shun, I can't tell you if you're gonna live or not. But I CAN say you'll not be just a prop.

Shun: Good.

Wolfi: IF YOU GUYS WANT TO KNOW IF THE TWINS GET SHUN TO THE MEDICS IN TIME PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING!


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3: Trapped in Oblivion

"Shun!" a feminine voice called out, reaching out to Shun. "_Who are you?" _Shun thought. The voice kept calling his name from time to time, then a younger but more masculine voice joined in, then another feminine voice came into the chorus. The three voices slowly pulled Shun out of the darkness he was shrouded in.

When the boy opened his eyes, he saw the white ceiling tiles that was the ceiling. "Oh, Shun, my little boy!" a woman cried then swooped down and gave him a hug. Shun could feel cool tear drops fall onto his skin. Shun's eyes widened when he saw the woman's face, it wasn't a nurse or one of his friends.

It was his late mother, Shiori Kazami.

Tears welled up in his amber eyes, her warm touch against his skin was like being wrapped in a blanket from the sun; warm and pleasant. "Mom?" the young boy asked.

"Yes Shun," his mother sobbed.

Shun was shocked, at first it felt amazing, but then images and memories challenging the events happening now, his mother went into a coma then died after a few months. "_How can this all be happening?"_ Shun thought.

"Weren't you in a coma?" Shun asked back, trying to straighten things out in his head. Shiori moved back, looking Shun in the eyes with worry,

"Honey, you were the one who went into the coma, but I wish I could've taken your place."

Shun's expression was filled with confusion and even slightly desperate, nothing seemed to make sense at this point. Suddenly a brown haired boy with red eyes popped up from behind Shun's mom and approached the hospital bed containing his friend,

"Maybe he hit his head after Infinity Skyress took a blow from Naga?"

Shun shot Dan a confused look that mainly said, '_You've got to be kidding me!"_ It seemed that Dan was telling the truth somehow, Drago was on his shoulder and in his Delta Dragonoid form. "But..." The raven haired boy groaned before he gripped his head in frustration and fell back onto the bed.

Both his best friend and his mother looked over him with worry on both their faces. "Shun?" a familiar voice broke through the silence. Shun eyes widened to see his old partner coming from Dan's shoulder to him, Skyress, only in a different form.

The trip back to his mother's house was quiet, every time Shun's mom tried to start a conversation, Shun ignored it. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to her, it was the information he had been given and the memories in his head were completely off track. "_They both seem so real! I want my mom to be alive!... And ...maybe to play the hero and not loose Skyress... But my memories tell me a whole different story! I...I can't stand it! Which is right, which is the truth!"_

"We're here, Shun," Shiori spoke as she opened the car door closest to Shun. Shun hadn't even known the car had stopped. Shiori's son nodded before stepping out of the car and following her, quietly as his mind fought for the true reality.

Seeing that her son was staring out into space for some strange reason, Shiori took his hand and directed him to the door of their house and opened it for the both of them. At the moment of being in a new surrounding, Shun's eyes became more alert. "Shun, are you okay?" asked his concerned mother. Shun looked up at her, nodding slightly.

When he look around his surroundings, Shun couldn't believe it. It was the old house they used to live in. Everything seemed familiar and not a thing seemed different, like everything here belonged here; including himself. His mom put a gentle hand on his shoulder then spoke, "How about you go to your room and maybe get some rest."

Shun gave a simple reply back before heading off to his old room, "Okay."

When the boy walked through the house, he found his room exactly how he remembered it. He walked around for a moment, taking all of it in before walking to his bed and falling onto it. He let out a sigh, then thought of a solution, "_Maybe these 'memories' were all just a dream... Mybe I did fight Naga with Skyress and hit my head or something then went into a coma and got amnesia at the same time, then during the coma, my mind just created those memories. Yah... That has to be it..."_

Shun and Dan were walking in the park after Shun got his mind in check. Dan was explaining the real details to Shun before finally asking, "Makes sense now?"

Shun gave a small nod.

"Good!" Then suddenly Dan pulled out a card from his pocket, "Now let's brawl!"

At first the ninja was surprised but then a small smile make it's way onto his face, he pulled out a card from his pocket that looked rather similar, and appeared in both the dreams and reality, then both boys shouted, "Bakugan: Field OPEN!"

As usual, time began to stop as they entered the battle field, the darkness all around with the different colours of the six attributes all around. Both boys faced each other, Dan speaking first, "One-on-One okay with you?"

"Sounds good," Shun replied.

Dan through his card first before throwing Drago out onto the card that expanded about thirty feet, "Gate Card, set! Bakugan Brawl! Drago, stand!"

Out of a column of flames Delta Dragonoid, Drago's second form, burst out.

He grinned, this actually felt right to him. The boy takes the bakugan that was on his arm, "Ready Skyress?"

Skyress replied strongly, "I'm always ready." With that Shun threw Skyress, aiming for the gigantic black card, and shouted, "Bakugan Brawl! Skyess, stand!"

A large tornado burst out of the ground, stretching for the sky, then a new and improved Skress sliced through the winds and took to the sky. Infinity Skyess' head looked like Storm Skyress, but her light green markings on her body were much more detailed then before. Her wings were the most stunning, she had two sets of magnificent wings, each flight feather was white and shining like quartz while the rest remained the same colour. The sharp-looking feathers lined the rim of the bones while the tornado marks on her first form was enlarged, colouring her wings with dark and light green. Her tail feathers looked fuller but mainly the same.

"_Wow!"_ Shun thought, "_I really forgot all this!"_

"Delta Dragonoid at 450 Gs, Infinity Skyress 550 Gs," both Baku-pods reported.

"Let's see if you can take the heat," Dan shouted. After taking a look at his ability cards, Shun returned with a small grin.

As the brawling started and, by the near finish, it was clear that Shun was the winner by the end. (I'll leave what the battle looked like to your imaginations ^^) Dan rushed over to congratulate his friend, only for something strange to happen. The world around Shun suddenly blurred and turned to blackness that could stretch thousands of miles. The only sight of light was behind him, Skyress' illuminated wings that seemed to have suddenly sprouted from his back. Suddenly he had realized, he was trapped in a distorted dream; trapped in Oblivion.

The only sound other than Shun's breath was haunting and unclear voices that screeched from some the wind that blew somewhere from the darkness, and somehow hammered fear into his heart. _B-bump. B-bump_. _B-bump._

* * *

><p>Shun: That took a long time. And it's a little confusing...<p>

Wolfi: I know, and I'm sorry about that but please review! Dreams never make sense, so it is confusing. The dream was about what Shun might've wanted in life, we all have that somewhere. Especially if you want to know what happens next in Shun's subconscious and if he will be able to open his eyes again.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Trapped

(AN: Sorry about the late update, homework decided to team up with writer's block and ambushed me.)

Disclaimer: I do not own bakugan, or it's characters -except the twins-.)

Even with Andi scouting ahead, it felt Alan had been running for hours. He couldn't see the sun as well as before, meaning they had limited time before they were unable to see what was even in front of their faces.

Other than that, it seemed that everything was pretty good, minus Shun unconscious and soon going into shock. "How's he holding up!" Andi called out, her voice echoing and sounding much more louder than it would've been due to the enclosed space.

"Alright!" Alan replied from behind her. In reality, Alan knew little of his friend's condition, Shun was as pale as he was before and looked pretty weak still. On the bright side, at least he hadn't started hyperventilating or anything very serious; that was a relief to Alan.

Just then Alan was sure he had heard something above him. What it was, he wasn't entirely sure about; maybe a storm was coming in? It started to get louder and louder thought, before he suddenly shouted at his sister, "Andi, get over here!"

Andi quickly whirled around, not used to hearing that kind of tone in Alan's voice, Alan usually had a semi-calm voice so with his voice with so much demand that it actually sounded aggressive had quickly caught the younger twin's attention. Then suddenly something made her jump to the side, a large rock fell so close to her that it would only have been a inch away from squashing her. Andrea wasted no time after that to get to her older sibling.

Alan's heart was pulsing from the running and the rocks coming down, the rocks were unstable and their voices along with the moisture from that morning had loosened them enough to cause them to break off the sides; leaving the trio trapped in the middle to be crushed.

Both Rumara twins raced on, constantly dodging boulders all the while, looking frantically to find something to shield themselves from death's taunting assault as they rushed. As luck would have it, Andi heard, above the rumbling, her brother's voice, "Andi! Over here!"

She only caught a glimpse of Shun, only because of another hunk of rock in her way, but she used the small glimpse to follow them. The violet haired girl then noticed the small opening at the base of the left wall and, without a thought, darted inside. She could feel a pair of eyes looking at her as calmly as they could, and quickly assumed it to be Alan. Even with the thundering noise, Alan had found a way to get out of the situation.

There they waited for the noise to finally end, which felt like an eternity until that happened. Neither of the twins said a word as the rocks came down like rain, filling up their original path and sealing the entrance to their little hideaway.

When it finally ended, Andi was sure of this since they would only hear the breathing of all three of them, Andi crept over to where the entrance had been and quietly pushed it. "Andi," her brother cautioned, his voice was easily heard than the rocks slowly falling as Andi pushed it. Alan knew that the rock wouldn't give in easily, in fact, the rock closing them in like mice in a cage could be wedged between several rocks; it would be a waste of energy to him.

Alan couldn't exactly see her sister's eyes, but he could feel the hetrochromatic eyes staring at him none the less, with his little sister's voice following, "We can't stay here and wait for somebody to find us. It would be too late for Shun and you know it."

The sounds of stone against stone continued on, but inside Alan knew the rock was much too heavy for Andi to push away, all she could do was try and fail. The quiet noise of rocks wedged in place turned to a small _thunk_ of Andi pounding on it with just her fists. As her knuckles made contact to the surface blocking them. "Move... Just move..." Andi's voice quivered in a whisper but echoed in the hole in the earth. A small hiccup of a sob was heard from her as well as she lashed out even harder, "Move, darn it... It can't end like this... It just can't... He'll die..."

The small sobs continued on as she pounded harder on it, each one made Alan's stomach tighten even more. He felt the eyes of Andi staring back at him again for only a moment, the feeling of what she was trying to say was simple, "_Help me..."_ That just made him feel worse, and she then continued on with the meaningless punching.

Andi was feeling more helpless than she could take, and Alan could handle almost anything you could throw at him; one of the couple things he couldn't handle was hearing Andi's distress. Sure, he knew Andrea could be pretty emotional, but when she acted like that in a tough situation, he could tell it was the only way out of letting her emotions come out.

The elder twin then slowly moved over towards the younger one, who had retreated to the side to try to move it from that spot, and began to push the rock forward like his sister did before. After a moment of the same rock-against-rock sound, they heard a significant rolling of rocks and the movement under their hands.

The Rumara twins pushed harder and harder until they finally succeeded in pushing the rock away, only to be replaced by a good amount of smaller rocks. Andi was able to deal with those, pushing them out of the way with some effort. With that, Andi crept out into the wasteland of stone and rocks.

As she left the small opening, she could see the ground of littered with large rocks, some smooth and some jagged. Above them was the same stone walls that trapped them in there like mice in a maze. There were indents on the surfaces, more significant than before, that showed were the boulders had some from. It seemed that there was less of a chance of another rock-slide, but Andi wasn't really sure. Carrying Shun with him, Alan clambered out as well.

As he got Shun back in the position before, since Alan had leaned Shun up against a wall when trapped inside the large hole, telling his sister, "We better get going, since it's not over yet."

Andi turned to Alan and nodded semi-cheerfully, a fake smile if anything, but then it darkened to more of a frown, "The entrance must be sealed by now."

Alan hadn't thought of that, just staring past Andi and towards was once way freedom. Turning away from Andi, Alan walked the other way, "This place doesn't go on forever there's got to be another way out on the other side."

Without another word, Andi followed her brother's lead. Strangely, she felt something ominous on that other side, but what other choice did they have?

There wasn't one.


	5. Chapter 5 (REDONE!)

Chapter 5: Deeper into Oblivion

(A/N: For those who are waiting for another chapter of this, you're in luck! I got in the mood to write this because I've been reading the kind of stuff that gave me the feeling. (**Hard to explain, I know, let's just say I got inspired)** Also, sorry for deleting the original, and sorry if it was disturbing to you. I discovered later that I went over board on it. (Never trust me to make slightly creepy stuff when I'm playing three different types of horror games at the same time.) So I redid it, it should be much more light than before.

Thanks to Breezyfeather, who helped me rewrite it! I appreciate it!

Anyway, I don't known anything about bakugan except the twins, otherwise, Andi and Alan would've been in the Anime.)

* * *

><p>Shun stood there in the green-tinted light, looking out into the darkness. He heart was still pounding like a jackhammer, something wasn't right about that; he just couldn't figure out why. It wasn't just the place, it was something else. It was so unsettling that the ninja boy was completely on edge, it took all of his self control to keep his feet from moving on their own.<p>

Or was he so afraid that he just couldn't move them?

He wasn't sure, nothing made sense anymore. Nothing at all seemed real or true, just a mix of everything; just simply distortion. _"Clam down, Shun!"_ he ordered himself silently, _"If this is a dream, then it's your dream. You should be able to control it."_

Suddenly a roar pierced through the silence, compared to the eerie darkness it was almost deafening. It sounded much like Darkus Hydronoid, only more shrill and pain filled. His body jolting to life, the noise finally allowed Shun's frozen-stiff legs to be able to bolt.

Even thought the black haired boy was running in a straight line, he didn't see anything but the void of darkness and the green light that surrounded him. There was no way out and he wanted to go back. He was thinking completely on his feet, natural human instinct was leading him to try to find an exit.

Strangely enough, he felt strange as he continued to look for an exit. He felt as if he was somehow more closer to the floor then before. Suddenly an all too bright light rose up and engulfed him.

Shun found himself rooted to the spot, blinded, for a moment. When it dimmed slightly, Shun cautiously opened his eyes. Everything seemed, well, peaceful. He was standing in the middle of a park, seemingly dazed for a moment. It was only when someone called him did he finally snap out of it.

"Hey, Shun! Let's go play!" called an all too familiar voice. Whirling around, Shun saw a younger version of Dan, standing there with a wide smile. He held up the little action figure they enjoyed playing with at one point. Shun is taken back, he isn't actually taller than Dan, despite this version of him being about 6 or 7 years old. Looking down at himself, Shun realized he was much younger now, he hadn't shrunk at all but was back to being a child again.

Despite all this, Shun stepped back warily, his amber eyes not taking his eyes off his best friend. Only, unlike the last time, Shun knew this wasn't reality and this wasn't his best friend. The red eyed boy's eyebrows curved up and asked, "Shun, what's wrong?" Dan then took another step forward.

Shun takes another step back as quickly as Dan placed his back on the ground, but this time Shun turned on his heel and ran as fast as his legs could possibly carry him. This wasn't his normal body thought, he wasn't running as nearly as fast as he usually did; he had the same speed as a regular child of eight and no more than that.

Lucky for him, Shun found himself further away then he had expected. He then noticed a river flowing through the park, one that shouldn't have been there; yet some how he felt compelled to go over and look.

There were many adults surrounding that area when Shun further investigated the area. Two of which he knew well enough to recognize, it was Mr and Dr Rumara. Cautiously going around the group and hiding nearby the group, Shun wished he hadn't. There was Dr Rumara, holding the twins as she looked them over, Andi's face as red as a cherry while Alan shivered due to being so cold, Mr. Rumara holding his family in his strong arms. The twins weren't moving very much, breathing hard; they had somehow almost drowned. The problem was that Shun know they were good swimmers at that age, so what actually happened to them.

A shiver went down the black haired boy's spine, something was wrong about this place, even worse than before. "Hey, Shun, did you find the secret?" Dan's younger voice asked.

Whirling around, Shun was shocked to hear nothing, but twhen he heard his friend cry out in distress, he dashed to where it was coming from, the river. Suddenly he felt someone behind him, he stood in the shadow of someone he didn't know. Whoever it was had no care for what happened to him, since Shun felt someone push him out enough to get him off balance and fall forward into the river's waters.

As Shun fell into the water, he tried desperately to stay above water but was quickly sinking. The more he tried to cry out to anyone, the more he choked on the river water as he did so. When Shun looked up at the person how had done this, he was shocked to see someone who looked like a regular child, only with no face and hole for eyes. It waved happily, as if this didn't bother it at all, as it stared into Shun's wide amber eyes. Eyes still wide with terror, Shun found himself being pulled down into the depths of the water, sinking.

For several moments, Shun was flailing underwater, clawing at the water, in various directions as if it would help, trying to get back to the air. If only someone had noticed him and tried to help him. No, the acted as if he didn't exist despite the few cries that could be heard, but being underwater, he had no chance of getting someone's attention He needed air, and very soon his lungs would be burning for it until he would go limp and die. He only sunk deeper, the sun's light peering through the water was beginning to fade.

When the boy was completely shrouded in darkness again, Shun realized his legs found something, solid ground. Gasping in surprise, Shun froze for a moment but couldn't stop the coughing fit he gained when he took a breath of air.

He was back in the darkness, sitting there in the void, where nothing remained, but he was alive and, after further inspection, was in his regular body again. Shun then spotted something, a red colour that stuck out from the overall darkness. Curiosity caused him to look up to see the source and when he looked up, Shun, once again, wished he never had.

There was the real Dan's limp body, red, dulled eyes wide with terror, in front of him. It was a miracle, seeing the large wounds, that Dan was still breathing. Shun's eyes shrank at the sight, abruptly standing up from his sitting position. He felt nervous, mind blank for once on what to do next. Andrea and Alan were experts on this sort of thing, he had next to nothing when it came to medical emergencies, the only thing he could do was panic or get help when things were this serious; he was useless. Keeping his eyes on Dan, he stepped back to feel something hit his foot. Part of him didn't want to look, the other wished to know if it was something bad. Shun looked over his shoulder to see two more battered bodies, which were still breathing, Runo and Marucho.

Squeezing his eyes shut, the ninja looked away and blindly went right to avoid his three friends. He didn't want to watch them suffer. Maybe if he ran far enough, he could escape this place and find a doctor to help them. He kept at a brusk pace, wishing he could find the exit some time soon for some kind of assistance. Instead of the exit, Shun ended up tripping after all. Feeling something warm under himself, Shun dared to open his eyes to see the bloody face of a severely wounded Alice.

Throwing himself off her and scrambled back due to her screaming into his ear, Shun saw the remaining brawlers not too far from the red-haired girl; Julie and Joe. Slowly standing up as he shook all over, Shun stiffened when he heard something, he went cold for a moment with chills, it was Andi's scream; and not just any scream, it was one that was only sounded in desperate situations.

It was Andi that allowed Shun to move as fast as he could, he didn't want any of his friends in danger with injury. It seemed he would run for miles, but in the distance, after several minutes, he saw a fight being waged not too far away.

Pushing himself to his limits, Shun made it just in time to watch Alan fall limply onto the ground, blood spreading from his wounds. He glanced at Shun with determined, serious, and scared brown orbs as if saying, _Help her!_ That took Shun back a little longer than the others, but then he heard Andi's cry again, "Help!"

There stood a bloody Masquerade, keeping Andrea, who wasn't nearly as bloody as their old enemy, in a head-lock to keep her in place with a sword in his hand. She looked weaker than she usually did, the fight had most likely drained a good portion of her energy. Holding Masquerade's arm with both hands, bloodied by the veins her bloodied knuckles, and tears rolling down her cheeks.

"S-Shun! P-P-please! Help me!" she sobbed, fear in her blue and brown eyes. Shun couldn't help but freeze in place, unable to move in fear of Andi coming to any harm. If it weren't for the weapon, Shun would've punched the blond teen so hard, he'd start bleeding himself.

Masquerade always seemed to be one step ahead of the brawlers, and this time was no difference, "Take one step and she's gonna pay; got it?"

Nothing happened except Andi's sobs and her adding something to the tense situation, "Shun, help me!"

"You heard the girl, Shun. So how about you get on your knees, hands behind your head too," Masquerade spoke with his usual smirk.

Glancing at look at his childhood friend one last time, his features softened, Shun obeyed warily as he did as he was told. A stern, serious, solemn face was the only emotion on the ninjas face. To use a hostage like this was clever, but proved he was partly a coward; knowing he wouldn't risk his only living friend's life.

Chuckling, Masquerade stared into the amber orbs of hate that wished for him to go jump off a cliff. With that in mind he grinned with success.

In a simple moment, more blood spilled onto the obsidian floor as Andi screamed in agony and fell to the floor, holding her side in pain.

Shun's eyes widened at the sight only to forget the anger that swelled inside of him to kneel over Andi's body. Ignoring Masquerade completely, Shun picked Andrea up and rested her against his chest. Panick was rising in his stomach, twisting until it hurt, he was hyperventilating, panicking at the sight of his friend harmed to such a degree, yet he could do nothing but talk to her,

"Andi! Andi, can you even hear me!? Open your eyes!"

Though her face was contorted in pain, her eyes fluttered open, looking up at her friend. She then grinned and replied, "Shun..." Shun's body then began to shake uncontrollably, and if any tears had been shed seeing his friends in a bad condition, they were welling up now. Andi was smiling like his mother was when she... No, he couldn't think about that!

"A-Andi, you're going to be f-f-fine, okay! Jut tell me what I have to do! There's got to be something I can do to help you! Just tell me!" Shun shouted, fear forcing him to begin to break down.

"Shun, I'm sorry..." she replied with a smile, trying to look brave.

"No, no, NO! Don't even say that! There's got to be something, some way to help you! Just tell me now! Right now! I'll do anything to help you," he shouted, he couldn't take it anymore, he was completely breaking down. "Y-you h-h-here me! I'll do anything,** anything**! For any one of you! Just say the word! I'll do it, Andrea! I mean it!"

It was then that Shun heard Alan whisper, "Andi..." Looking over at Alan, Shun could see by Alan stretching out his hand, what Alan wished to have at that moment. Tears welling it, he reached over and pulled his other childhood friend over to himself. Grinning, Alan uttered, "Thanks, Shun..." Then he took his hand and held onto his little sister's hand, how easily allowed them to hold hands.

"But you know, you're pretty bad for a ninja when it comes to helping others," the twins spoke in unison, "You're pretty horrible. Useless."

Shun was at borderline breakdown, not being able to control any of his emotions, he was beyond scared, he had seen his mother fall into a coma, he couldn't allow another time like this to happen again. They were right thought, he was all of those things, he was horrible, a failure of being a ninja, just plain useless. There words stung hard, as if swords had been plunged into his heart. He knew it though, what kind of person can't help his friends when they need him most? Himself, that's who.

Masquerade, on the other hand, was enjoying the usually solemn ninja boy break down in his misery. At first he was only chuckling, then it continued until it hit the laughter of insanity. "I can't believe what I'm seeing! Shun Kazami breaking down, being useless when his little friends need him most!"

He stood up, eyes filled with rae, and leaped forward, clasping Masquerade's neck as he threw his free hand behind him to unleash a brutal punch, "You b******!"

Shun felt the sting in his hand as he stared at Masquerade. Something was going through Shun's head as they stared face-to-face, Why wasn't Masquerade attacking him too, he was the only one left after all! Shun watched with hate in his eyes, blinding him, as the mask shattered into a million pieces. The blonde's hair fell to his sides, changing colour as it did.

A grin came across the new face of Shun's opponent. Terror and fear contorted Shun's face as he stepped back. The figure stepped forward in response a smile of insanity clearly plastered on his face, "What's wrong, I thought you were mad?"

Shun took another step back, only for the fresh crimson to trip him up, forcing him off balanced and onto the floor. The black haired ninja looked up at the other boy as he scrambled away, only to be slowed by the blood and slipping several times. It was because of this that the boy grabbed onto the collar of Shun's purple, bloodstained, jacket and pulled him so they could be face to face once again.

Shun froze at the touch momentarily before lashing out, trying to get away but the firm grip was too strong to pry away. "Aw... Poor poor Shun, completely helpless to do anything to help his friends... He as weak as all the others..." the boy joked. Shun made no reply as he looked up from the red smeared hand to the bloodied face of himself. It was him, covered in his friend's blood, even his hair, which was free from its usual ponytail.

"Yes, I hurt them them... Or should I say... _you_ hurt them..." he chuckled before throwing the real Shun to the floor. The other one was so strong that Shun's head spun when he hit the ground. "Well, goodbye!" his own voice replied as his duplicate stood there, towering over him. It was through his blurry vision that he saw an almost black Hydraniod, coming closer and closer.

Once everything went from black again then back to focus after moments of a blurred, spinning, distorted vision, Shun held his head as he groaned. That had really hurt him more than anything else he had experienced in this twisted place. Suddenly he felt his heart raising, warning him of danger. Not wishing to see anymore of what this place revealed, Shun did the only thing he could; run.

It seemed that hours went by before Shun found his strength dwindling and lungs burning. He slowed down, looking back to see a void of darkness then in front of him. He held his knees as he bent over slightly then allowed his knees to give way under him. For a moment, Shun enjoyed the silence, of being alone. All he could hear was his heart pounding and his breathing shallow. Tears then began to fall afterwards. He had enough of this horrible place, he wanted to be back where he belonged, with his real friends, in the real world; he wanted _out._

Somehow, some way, he would get out. He just hoped it would be soon.

What Shun didn't notice was that the wings had returned, and that the feathers were falling from the two wings, still glowing in the same hue of emerald as they drifted and fell near their owner, Shun Kazami.

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><p>Wolfie: Well... That was creepy...<p>

Shun: You think!?

Wolfie: I guess was in a Halloween mood, it's coming up soon, ya know.

Shun: ... ... ... True ...

Wolfie: We're on the last chapter thought, that's good! One more and A friend in Need will be finished.

Shun: Please Review if you want to see the ending.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Calling You Home

(A/N: Sorry for deleting Chapter 5, I figured that it was too gruesome to be placed in here, so I redid it, so it is lighter now. I decided to go ahead and start the last chapter, so here I am, at 11 at night, typing away.

Thanks to all you reviewed, and read this until the end (even after my mistake), I appreciate it!

Also, the last chapter is a little different than the rest, it's original name was "Deeper into Emergency" but due to editing, it became "Calling You Home". The new name is based on "Call", my favourite soundtrack in my favourite horror rpg game, HetaOni, that I was listening to for the final scene of A Friend in Need. **Call fits the ending of this final chapter, being both calming and sounding a little bit sad, but to me it feels like its more touching than sad; like there is still hope, and something brighter in store. (At least in my opinion) It reminds me of the line: "Where do you want to be?", which ties in with chapter 5.**

**So if you wish to listen near the end to the same song I was listening to, check it out.**

Anyways, I hope you enjoy.)

I don't known anything about bakugan except the twins, otherwise, Andi and Alan would've been in the Anime and Shun and Andi might've been a Canon pairing.)

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><p>It felt like it had been hours since they had started the search for Shun, and it might've actually been hours in fact, but they hoped it hadn't been. It was after a good length of running that Alan felt something strange on his neck. Yes he was already used to his friend's breathing as he carried Shun, but something was different about his breathing pattern. No longer was it slow, but rapid as well as shallow. It was then that Alan stopped short and called to his sister ahead of him, "Something's wrong!"<p>

As Alan carefully got Shun onto the ground, Andi ran as fast as she could towards the two boys. By the time she got there, Alan had been able to confirm Shun did have shallow breathing. Andi panted, holding her knees do to all the running she had done, "Is... he okay? Please don't tell me..."

Alan, who was currently checking Shun's pulse, looked up and replied, "His pulse isn't too weak and but it's rapid. I'd say... he's going into shock."

For a moment, Andrea stared at Alan then at Shun, looking over his pale face. It wasn't only without it's natural colour, but it looked clammy, the exact description fit with one of the symptoms. He had some of the symptoms of Shock, but his pulse was doing okay, he needed a doctor thought; even more so than before.

"We've got to go, you and I both know Shun isn't going to last much longer like this. We can still make it," Andrea replied, eyes determined.

Alan nodded, "Then let's give it all we've got to help him." After getting Shun back on his back, Alan and Andrea continued for the final stride to save a dear friend's life. Andi didn't once look back, she needed to focus on looking for the exit. If one came up soon, they could actually save Shun. All she was thinking though was about him. "_Keep fighting, Shun," _she thought, "_You're a fighter, right? So hang on! We've got to be almost out, then we can get you to a doctor." _She knew she couldn't loose him, he had been a large part of the twins childhood. He was their friend, sparring partner; and for Andrea, someone she was crushing on. It was all or nothing, the last gamble.

As the manoeuvred through the rocky maze and the path growing more narrow. It became more and more of a reality that Andrea was refusing, it seemed they might not make it. Alan could tell, he was feeling his friend sink deeper into shock, knowing he didn't have long until Shun Kazami was beyond reach; sinking deeper into oblivion until he was out of reach.

It was when Andrea turned a corner and darted out of sight that Alan calmly followed, it was then that Andrea raced back, sweat coating most of her face due to the long run, pushing Alan back. "Watch out!" she whispered.

To his surprise, nothing happened. At first he thoguht it was simply a practical joke from Andi, but then he second guessed himself. Andrea knew this was the worst time in their lives to pull a prank on her older twin, so what exactly was around the corner?

Cautiously, Alan walked past his sister, despite her warning, and peered from the safety of the natural wall. To his surprise, there in the middle, were stones leading up to the top of the rift. Alan couldn't help but look at it with wide eyes. Finally they had found their ticket out of there!

Unfortunately, Alan noticed why they couldn't exactly sprint over and run to civilization. There was a large sandy brown furred cat prowling around their exit, a fully grown cougar was standing in their way.

Slowly making his way back, Alan looked over at Andrea. He couldn't grasp why it was here, there was nothing for it down here, except for three kids. It was then that the information from training that Alan grasped what it wanted. With Andrea's bloody knuckles and Shun passed out on them, weaker than the twins by quite a bit, the cougar was ready to take out the weak one from their little group, like most predators did in the wild. Looking over at Shun again, looking as if he was sleeping by the looks of his facial expression as he was draped over Alan, Alan knew exactly who was on the chopping block. He breathed a frustrated sigh, it seemed that finding Shun was more easier than getting him out.

Either way, the twins had once again had used their disliked ability of finding trouble. As Alan tried to devise a way to get out of this mess, he was interrupted by Andi pulling on his sleeve.

"I'm going out there," she explained without warning.

"Are you creazy! You can't take on a cougar by yourself!" Alan shot back, not needed stupid ideas from Andrea at this time.

"We don't have a choice! I can distract it then you can go get help, I'll find a way to shake it off once you're out of range," Andi explained. Her brown and blue eyes were bright with determination. Seeing those eyes, Alan knew well that Andi was not going to change her mind any time soon.

"Go!" she yelled before darting out boldly, as well as stupidly or bravely, and began shouting and taunting the beast, "Hey, come over here! Come on, you furry puff ball! You scared of a human!"

The cougar looked over at the girl in curiosity, most likely wondering what on earth was going on. Andi then took a deep breath and did the exact opposite of what you were supposed to do when you encountered a cougar, she shrank down into a crouch, making herself smaller than the big cat.

Seeing potential prey in the girl, the cougar growled and rushed at her. Luckily, Andi leaped out of the way before crouching again. She had to keep going, she had to look tasty and weak in order to keep up a good distraction. It was then that she caught a glimpse of Alan as he dashed past the two, glaring at Andrea for a moment. It was times like these that he liked and disliked his sister's sense of selflessness to those who needed help.

On the other hand, he had two problems, Shun could die at any moment and Andi was risking her safety by playing a catch-me-if-you-can game with a cougar. When Alan was completely out of the rift, he felt himself stop for a moment. He couldn't stop, but at the same time, he couldn't leave Andi there with that creature. She had been running for most of the day, and soon, she'd be completely drained of energy, then she'd never be able to make it out alive.

Taking in a deep breath, Alan raced over to the edge and suddenly heard rumbling. All he could do was watch as the rocks tumbled away from the exit, just out of reach for Andi to climb up. She had managed to get herself trapped.

Alan could only watch as Andi tried her best to fend the cougar off, using a stone as a weapon. It didn't seem to matter, there was no way out, and Alan could see she was loosing energy. The wild cat was able to claw at her, getting that close meant Andi wasn't going to last long.

Looking around desperately for something to help Andi, Alan found dangling over the edge of the rift was a nice large vine. It was lucky that the narrow rift's walls grew shorter, making the walls at the exit about twenty feet. He had no clue how long it was or how strong it was, but he didn't have a choice in the matter. He had made the decision to help his sister, he needed to act as soon as possible.

Grasping it and ripping the base out, Alan pulled it out and gathered it into a messy pile. Looking over it one last time, Alan silently hoped it would work. Alan then took one side and threw the other other the edge, lying on his stomach in case he needed extra length. He then shouted at the girl below, "Hey, come on!"

Andrea look up, shocked that Alan was still there despite the original plan. Unfortunately, that's when the cougar decided to pounce. Toppling her over, Andi punch and kicked, trying to tell the beast that she was not any kind of food for it. After snatching up a rock the size of a baseball and striking its head, the cougar backed away momentarily, yowling in pain.

Wincing as she stood up, she did her best to rush over and climb the wall to the vine, which was at least three feet. It became clear that was no option, the wall was practically 90 degrees and Andi had no energy for that sort of thing. She tried though, but she didn't make it all three without leaping for it; she missed. Falling onto her feet then sitting on the ground, Andi looked looked up at her brother, as if saying, _Sorry, I don't think I can make it._

With quick wit, Alan pushed himself over the edge, just enough for Andi to make it. Down below, however, Andi showed signs that she had overestimated her endurance, it was almost completely gone.

"Andi , you've got to try again! One more time! Do you want to be cat food!?" Alan yelled at her. The dark violet haired blond looked up at Alan before taking a deep breath and stepping back. Alan grinned, she was finally listening; she was going to try again. At the same time, the cougar was ready for another round with Andrea was well.

Gaining speed, Andi clambered up the wall using the ninja technique with climbing trees, she both dodged the cougar and Alan got a good yank on the vine; she was going to make it with them.

Suddenly, as Alan pulled the vine up to get Andi out of there, then he, as he ignored theT cougar's rage of being cheated out of food, heard the vine begin to snap. Both twins' eyes widened before they began to try to get closer to the other, Andi desperately trying to use the vine to clamber up while Alan drew it in.

It continued to snap, and just when they were two feet apart, the vine snapped. At the same time, Andi leaped in desperation, hoping her brother would be able to assist her. She easily lessened the gap, so much so that Alan was able to reach down a little more and grasp onto Andi's hand.

Though he found her hand slipping out of his own, Andi was able to pull herself up and grab onto his arm, dangling there until Alan grabbed her arm and pushed himself away from the edge with all his might, dragging Andi onto safe ground.

Seeing Andi's many scratches, some large and some small, Alan groaned as he got up, "Don't do that again, okay? Geeze... Now I've got two people injured..."

Despite Alan's grumpy attitude, Andi managed to smile as she got up and began to limp int othe forest. Alan didn't waste time in following her. Feeling his breathing, Alan estimated two hours until Shun was out of reach.

As Alan jogged ahead of his injured sister, Alan heard her call back to him. "Hey, Alan, do you have one of the BakuMeters?"

"I think so, it makes a good watch," Alan replied.

Andi then did her best to limp over, but was struggling to do so. She put everything into those three jumps back in the rift, and she was pretty much dead weight in a lot of ways. She was in pain and was less tolerant to it with her energy.

"Well, I think Dan may still have his on hand, maybe we should try to call him?"

Alan looked over at his clawed up sister and replied, "That isn't half bad!" The dark violet haired boy then unbuckled the BakuMeter, and threw it to Andi.

Before, Andi knew that there would be too many interferences with the rocks to get a good signal, but in the forest, they may just be able to get some. She held her breath as she booted the BakuMeter.

Shun felt himself slip deeper and deeper into these strange and twisted dreams, they started getting more and more vivid as they went on. To the point that he couldn't tell reality from the fake. He wondered from time to time if he was destined to be tortured forever, trapped in Oblivion. He wanted out so bad and now he always felt like crying when something happened. To put it simply, it was never a good illusion, not anymore.

It was then that he heard something as he head pounded. He waited momentarily or it to go away or for something to happen, but instead he saw darkness and heard the continuous sound. It reminded him of a bad memory, the annoying beeping of the machines reading someone's heartbeat. It was then that Shun dared himself to open his eyes again, despite what could happen next.

When he did, he found himself in a hospital room, white and pristine as each room was with the sent of chemicals that kept everything sterilized. Shun was without his usual attire, instead he was wearing a patient's clothing as he laid there. Looking down at where they had placed the IV drip and the pulse reader. As he did so, he noticed someone half draped over the side of the bed, as if waiting for him to wake up. To his surprise, it was a wounded Andrea Rumara.

As he quietly shuffled to sit up, Shun wondered if this was another illusion, another trick of his mind. Everything always seemed fine, but then it got bad quickly after. Shun stared at her for a few minutes, looking over her peaceful features; nothing seemed out of the ordinary, could this actually be reality?

It was due to his movements that Andi mumbled, "Hmm...?" Her eyes fluttered open, revealing her multicoloured eyes, a ring of chocolate brown with ocean blue in the middle. She seemed at peace, not angry, not scared.

Lifting her head, Andi looked over in Shun's direction, looking half asleep. It was then Shun could see that Andi have a couple bandages of her own, one looking quite big on the left side of her forehead with another over her cheek, there was probably a few more, by the looks of gauze and bandages peeking out from her t-shirt.

After a moment, Andi's eyes widened, a grin brightened up her features as she threw herself over to her friend, wrapping her arms around him. "Shun, you're awake!" she cried.

Shun just stayed perfectly still, waiting for something bad to happen, Instead of hugging her back, he asked, "Andi... Did I ever hurt you? Am I useless in emergencies?... And... do you... hate me?"

Andi looked up at him and smiled, both of their eyes meeting, "Everyone can be useless, but you've got your strengths too..." When she heard the last question, she drew away from him, looking at him sadly.

Shun grew tense again, he had learned that the people in his illusions remembered the previous one; now he knew something bad was going to happen.

"But Shun..." she spoke sadly. "Why would you think that? I'm one of your best friends, heck, I decided to take on a cougar after running for a pretty long time. You should know that even if you hurt me, which I bet you'd never to willingly, it would take a lot for me to hate you.. Because you're one of my best friends."

As the girl's smile returned as she spoke, Shun couldn't believe her words for a moment, if he was hearing them right. That sounded like Andi, the _real_ one. All the illusions of his friend said something around the lines of either 'I hate you' or 'You're completely useless.' That was his proof, everything was normal, he was back in reality again; he was out.

Tears welling up from what felt like months of mental and emotional torture within his dreams, he reached over and hugged her close, enough to feel her heart beat. He hesitated at first, but managed to hug him back in return. It was good to see the real one again, the one who encouraged, got angry sometimes, was reckless, and was loyal to those who she cared for.

"Thank goodness it's actually you!" he spoke, choking out small sobs.

"Yeah, it's me... Are you okay?" the Rumara girl asked.

"I'm fine... Just happy to be here..." he replied, able to compose himself again.

Suddenly, the door swung open, causing the hug to end as all the brawlers, including Alan and Joe, walked into the room.

"Hey, buddy! You doing alright now?" Dan asked.

"Yeah, you gave us a scare for a little while, Shun," Julie added.

Andi was looking at Alan in particular, smiling sheepishly. Alan marched over and flicked her forehead, "The doctor told you to stay put, but you decide to go wander off..."

Andi rubbed her bandaged head before replying, "I was fine anyway! I've got my rabies shot and everything, the stitches are fine! I just wanted to see how Shun was doing." It was obvious that Andi was going to have nothing of Alan's big brother scoldings today.

Alan breathed out a sigh then looked at the two of them, "Well... At least you both are okay, you two had me a little worried."

Shun, not being able to collect all the information in order for this to make sense, then asked, "What happened to me?"

"Oh, that. Andi and Alan said you must've fell into a rift, you hit your head pretty bad, you were going into shock," Marucho explained. "You didn't have many body problems, but you had a small fracture; that's all."

Quickly touching his forehead, he realized there was a layer of gauze over at least his forehead, they were right about that. "So... I'm alive because of them?..." Shun questioned.

"We were actually contacted by Alan and Andi in the woods, they brought a BakugMeter to use as a watch, but they were able to contact Joe using it," Alice spoke.

"So, I called for emergency and after that I called everyone else so we could meet you at the hospital," Joe added the final bit to the story.

Shun quietly looked around the room, all the brawlers, hi friends, were here, waiting for him to wake up from shock. He could feel a warm feeling rise from his chest, there was no question anymore on whether this was really reality. With everyone smiling, happy for him to be awake again, he knew this was where he belonged. As a smile spread across his lips, he replied, "Thank you, everyone."

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><p>Wolfie: Yeah! A Friend In Need is done! *yawns *<p>

Andi: How long have you been up for?

Wolfie: Around 2 in the morning, all writing Fanfictions since 9 pm. :) I feel WAY better though, in October I always feel weird anyway. This year my stomach always feels like I'm feeling guilty or something. :(

Alan: Well... I don't think that was the best but good job for finishing, especially risking sleep. You might turn out to be a bean thought.

Wolfie: I AM NOT A BEAN! I AM 5'2" at least! (I actually am offended when people call me small, but I don't react like a madman.)

Shun: ... Yeah, I think the ending was alright.

Wolfie: Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this piece of writing. Some parts could've been called cheezy, but I'm happy for those who stuck to until the end. This is Wolfi-Chan saying Syaonara and thank you for reading!


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